A dramatic novel of passion, politics & betrayal from the author of The Other Boleyn Girl. Mary, Queen of Scots, fights to regain her kingdom whilst under the guard of Queen Elizabeth`s trusted accomplice, Bess of Hardwick. Mary is Queen of Scotland but she has been forced to flee her land & take refuge in an England that is ruled by her cousin Elizabeth. But Engl&, precarious in its Protestant state, set against the mighty powers of Spain, France & Rome, doesn`t need a charismatic Catholic figurehead at large. So Elizabeth`s chief advisor, Cecil, devises a plan in which Mary will live under guard with his trusted accomplice: Bess of Hardwick. Bess is a self-made woman, a shrewd survivor. She is newly married to her fourth & most distinguished husb&, the Earl of Shrewsbury. But what marriage can withstand the charms of Mary? Or the threat of rebellion that she always carries? Mary must wait in her privileged imprisonment for the return to Scotland & her infant son; but waiting is not the same as doing nothing... With her characteristic combination of superb storytelling & authentic historical background, Philippa Gregory brings to life this period of great change, in a riveting tale of betrayal, loyalty, politics & passion. ...

The war is at a turning point. The enemy is growing weaker, & more desperate. & so is Ellie. As the conflict intensifies around her, she is captured & separated from her friends. Overwhelmed by all she has lost, Ellie wonders if she has the strength to survive the final conflict
- & if she can live with the consequences of everything she has done. An action-packed adventure & an unforgettable exploration of the emotional impact of war.
...

Girl Online meets Wild in this emotionally charged story of girl who takes to the wilderness to rediscover herself & escape the superficial persona she created on social media. Mari Turner`s life is perfect. That is, at least, to her thousands of followers who have helped her become an internet starlet. But when she breaks down & posts a video confessing she`s been living a lie-that she isn`t the happy, in love, inspirational online personality she`s been trying so hard to portray-it goes viral & she receives a major backlash. To get away from it all, she makes an impulsive decision: to hike the entire John Muir Trail. Mari & her late cousin Bri were supposed to do it together, to celebrate their shared eighteenth birthday. But that was before Mari got so wrapped up in her online world that she shut anyone out who questioned its worth-like Bri. With Bri`s boots & trail diary, a heart full of regret, & a group of strangers that she meets along the way, Mari tries to navigate the difficult terrain of the hike. But the true challenge lies within, as she searches for the way back from to the girl she fears may be too lost to find: herself. ...

Gervase Phinn reveals his early experiences as a school inspector in ” The Other Side of the Dale”. As the newly appointed County Inspector of Schools in North Yorkshire, Gervase Phinn reveals in this warm & wonderfully humorous account, the experiences of his first year in the job
- & what an education it was! He quickly learns that he must slow his pace & appreciate the beautiful countryside
- ` Are tha`comin` in then, mester, or are tha` stoppin` out theer all day admirin` t`view?` He encounters some larger-than-life characters, from farmers & lords of the manor to teaching nuns & eccentric caretakers. &, best of all, he discovers the delightful & enchanting qualities of the Dales children, including the small boy, who, when told he`s not very talkative, answers: ` If I`ve got owt to say I says it, & if I`ve got owt to ask I asks it`. With his keen ear for the absurd & sharp eye for the ludicrous, Gervase Phinn`s stories in ” The Other Side of the Dale” will not fail to make you weep with laughter. ” Gervase Phinn`s memoirs have made him a hero in school staff-rooms”. (” Daily Telegraph”). Gervase Phinn is an author & educator from Rotherham who, after teaching for fourteen years in a variety of schools, moved to North Yorkshire to be a school inspector. He has written autobiographies, novels, plays, collections of poetry & stories, as well as a number of books about education. He holds five fellowships, honorary doctorates from Hull, Leicester & Sheffield Hallam universities, & is a patron of a number of children`s charities & organizations. He is married with four adult children. His books include ” The Other Side of the Dale”, ” Over Hill & Dale”, ” Head Over Heels in the Dales”, ” The Heart of the Dales”, ” Up & Down in the Dales” & ” Trouble at the Little Village School”.

...

This is the story of 12 year-old Sade & her brother Femi who flee to Britain from Nigeria. Their father is a political journalist who refuses to stop criticising the military rulers in Nigeria. Their mother is killed & they are sent to London, with their father promising to follow. Abandoned at Victoria Station by the woman paid to bring them to England as her children, Sade & Femi find themselves alone in a new, often hostile, environment. Seen through the eyes of Sade, the novel explores what it means to be classified as `illegal` & the difficulties which come with being a refugee.WINNER OF THE CARNEGIE MEDAL 2000 & the NESTLE SMARTIES SILVER AWARD 2000 `A marvellous read.. .that refuels the desire for justice & freedom`
- Jon Snow ` Beverley Naidoo breaks the rules, producing books for young people which recognize that they want to know about the real world`
- Guardian

...

To know a city is to become intimately intertwined with its nooks, crevices, secret passageways & dark places where its lifeblood flows & what city has more of those than Venice? In ” The Other Venice”, Predrag Matvejevic ventures past the infamous canals & cobblestone streets of the tourist`s Venice to find the heart of the historic Italian city. A lyrical re-imagining of the City of Romance, ” The Other Venice” utterly reconfigures the Venetian landscape, as Matvejevic follows both real & imaginary maps, contemporary & historical, to trace out the details of this sensuous city. He probes into what the ancient metropolis means to its people, the nation & global culture. But he also finds hints of life in the smallest & most mundane details bridges, rust-flecked boats, wall sculptures, rivers & piazzas scattered throughout the city. Each has a little-known story & with Matvejevic as our guide, he reveals the stories behind them all. The book carries readers to a Venice that has escaped the eyes of writers, artists & photographers through the centuries, & Matvejevic by turns plays a historian, cartographer, anthropologist & philologist as he unravels elusive artifacts of time past. Arresting black-&-white photographs by Sarah Quill accompany the text, offering a silent testament to Matvejevic`s pilgrimage. A fascinating & beautifully written guide, ” The Other Venice” reminds us that there is always another mystery to uncover in the city of water & stone. ...

150 years after Charles Darwin completed his epic voyage in ”HMS Beagle”, a research ship owned & operated by the UK`s Natural Environment Research Council & bearing the name of the famous scientist, began another global circumnavigation that would take her away from her home base for three & a half years. Unlike ”HMS Beagle”, the Royal Research Ship (RRS) ” Charles Darwin” would not be dedicated to the scientific endeavours of one man, but would support some 24 scientific teams studying topics as diverse as the causes of El Nino, deep sea currents in the Indian Ocean, & the speed with which the Indian sub-continent moved towards Asia. The author, who was personally involved in much of the planning & operation of this round-the-world voyage, has made every effort to explain the complexities of modern scientific research in terms the non-scientist can underst&, & to draw out some of the excitement today`s scientists experience when their research reveals some unexpected discovery. ...

From the secrets of the forest, to the magic of the sea, these nine stories tell of what happens when passion, desire, loneliness & imprisonment lead us on a search for freedom & empowerment
- no matter what the cost. A woman makes a deal with gods & goddesses in order to bring a slanderous town down to its knees, a man who has lost everything finds himself in the graveyards of Paris, turning to dark magic to ensure success, an opulent masked ball becomes the stage of spite & revenge, a teenage boy who believes he is in the wrong body calls out to mermaids to enchant him. With strands of classic fairy & folklore weaved through, the unknown
- the silent & dark
- is explored. Where spirits, deities & witches lurk, but also where the beauty of life & renewal can be found.


...

Shortlisted for THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2017 ` The best popular account of the lives of otters written so far` Richard Shelton, Times Literary Supplement When Simon Cooper bought an abandoned water mill that straddles a small chalkstream in southern Engl&, little did he know that he would come to share the mill with a family of wild otters. Yet move in they did, allowing him to begin to observe them, soon immersing himself in their daily routines & movements. He developed an extraordinary close relationship with the family, which in turn gave him a unique insight into the life of these fascinating creatures. Cooper interweaves the personal story of the female otter, Kuschta, with the natural history of the otter in the British Isles, only recently brought back from the brink of extinction through tireless conservation efforts. Following in the footsteps of Henry Williamson`s classic 1920s tale Tarka the Otter, readers are taken on a journey through the calendar year, learning the most intimate detail of this most beautiful of British mammals. Cooper brings these beloved animals to life in all their wondrous complexity, revealing the previously hidden secrets of their lives in this beautifully told tale of the otter. ...

` An outstanding history.. .one of the best writers on the First World War` Simon Sebag Montefiore The Ottoman Endgame is the first, & definitive, single-volume history of the Ottoman empire`s decade-long war for survival. Beginning with Italy`s invasion of Ottoman Tripoli in September 1911, the opening salvo in what would soon spiral into a European conflict, the book concludes with the establishment of Turkish independence in the Treaty of Lausanne, 1923. This is the first time an author has woven the entire epic together from start to finish
- & it will cause many readers to fundamentally reevaluate their understanding of the conflict. The consequences, well into the 21st century, could not have been more momentous.
...